Pakistan releases senior Taliban commander: official

[Bosonic]

Source: AFP

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan on Saturday released its most senior Afghan Taliban detainee, Abdul Ghani Baradar, a senior official of the interior ministry told AFP, a move Kabul hopes will encourage peace talks with the insurgents.

Baradar, a one-time military chief often described as the insurgents' former second-in-command, was the most high profile detained Taliban commander in Pakistan.

"Yes Baradar has been released," Omar Hamid, a spokesman for the interior ministry told AFP, without elaborating on the circumstances of the release.

Pakistan's foreign ministry on Friday said that Baradar's release would facilitate Afghanistan's reconciliation process with the Taliban as a NATO combat mission there winds down.

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[Lasher]

1. Can't have those 300 Taliban escapees running around without a leader.

Those who escaped in July are still at large.

[7962]

2. Good point! But I thought Pakistan was our FRIEND?

[Lasher]

3. Imagine you were a soldier who helped capture Baradar or one of the 300 escaped prisoners.

Maybe you lost an arm or a leg during the process. How would you feel about that right now?

[Ash_F]

4. Pakistan is on the verge of civil war.

Why do you think they allow the drone program? The US is bombing their rebels.

[Lasher]

5. And this was an act of sheer capitulation.

Rewarded the very next day by a terrorist attack that killed at least 60 at a Christian church.

[Ash_F]

6. Well maybe Obama should help them out and put some troops on the ground?

The drone program doesn't seem to be working.

[Lasher]

7. Actually drone strikes have been at least somewhat effective - according to bin Laden, for one.

I think invading Pakistan is just as good an idea as the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. Well maybe not even that good, since Pakistan has nukes.

[Comrade Grumpy]

8. I think you're getting your Talibans confused.

The guy released is Afghan Taliban, released as part of a strategy of reaching a negotiated settlement, a strategy supported by the United States.

The Pakistani Taliban is a different bunch. It has real issues with the Pakistani state.

[Lasher]

9. A fair charge

I sometimes fail to account for a distinction, partly due to my own ignorance - but also because a line between the two can be about as grey as the Afghan/Pakistani border is porous.

[Comrade Grumpy]

10. There is a most helpful recent book, "Talibanistan," edited by Peter Berger.

It provides the skinny on all the fractious factions.

[Alamuti Lotus]

11. Baradar is considered to be a commander most amenable to negotiations with the US

Pakistani governments have "Property of the United States" permanently tattooed on its ass; if he was released, it was because the occupation forces believe he will be useful to cover their upcoming retreat.